Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment Minister of Education, Culture and Employment
The Honourable Caitlin Cleveland was first elected in the 19th Assembly as the MLA for Kam Lake in 2019, and has served as the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, and Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment since 2023 after being acclaimed to the 20th Assembly.
In addition to owning and operating a northern business for over 20 years, Minister Cleveland worked in a variety of communications and policy roles in both the public and private sectors before entering politics.
Between 2019 to 2023, she chaired the Standing Committee on Social Development, fulfilling a goal to be a part of the discussions and decisions affecting social programs in the Northwest Territories. Her noteworthy work on the Committee included guiding the considerable review and input into recommendations on housing in the NWT, suicide prevention, and improvements to caring for children in care and building supported families.
Within the scope of her portfolios, Minister Cleveland is focused on helping children grow into successful NWT residents that recognize opportunities and develop successful careers that contribute to a growing economy. She advocates for new approaches to sector diversification and innovation, and ensures the North is welcoming both skilled foreign workers and investment in the critical mineral resources across the territory. She persistently explores solutions for efficient and equitable access to programs and services, upholding a shared vision of an NWT where people are supported in the ways they wish to live, work, and grow.
Minister Cleveland is a lifelong resident of Yellowknife where she lives with her husband and their three children.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, every session we pass a capital budget, operations and maintenance budget, or a supplemental appropriation budget for government spending. Tucked away in every one of those budgets are million dollar expenses to sustain or improve our government's hold in the digital world. Over the years, these dollars have turned paper medical records into digital archives that allow residents to access more consistent healthcare across the NWT. Some of these technology upgrades allow us to now order birth certificates or healthcare cards online, and some, in turn, are...
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, when I, once upon a time, used to work at the Department of Finance, I had the privilege of using DIMS. I adored DIMS. It makes it easier to finds documents and store them and share them with your colleagues. So, Mr. Speaker, I'm wondering what departments still need to be loaded on to the DIMS system in order to access it as part of their regular workspace? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, one of the things that the government is doing is currently evaluating all of the redundancies and efficiencies of its programs and services through government renewable. And so I'm wondering if ISSS itself is involved in its own government renewal process focused on the interoperability of GNWT digital infrastructure and redundancy reduction between GNWT departments. Right now there is a lot of silos happening, there's a lot of fragmented digital systems, there's a lot of purchasing that's happening individually within departments, and so I'm wondering if...
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. And I appreciate the department is taking note and putting in better controls to look at the spending on digital infrastructure. And just to be clear, I'm not opposed to digital infrastructure. I want to be clear as to what my interest is in this. Since the very beginning, I've been asking about integrated service delivery of the public service, and this is one of the barriers to being able to do that properly.
So given the great need for interoperability to properly serve NWT residents, does the NWT intend to create an interoperability framework? Thank you.
Debates of
, 19th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 135)
Thank you so much, Mr. Speaker. I don't think his MLA can see him, but I'd also like to recognize Dave Brothers who is up there. I've known him for a long time. He's here as a happy grandparent, I think, today, and also Corinne Nitsiza is also a very talented beader and I think a couple of us own some very gorgeous earrings by her. So it's always nice to get to have the artist in the House too. So thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there's another reason why DIMS is really important, and it's for access to information and privacy protection as well. And the ATIPP Act is also rolled into kind of being able to use that system as well. And so especially given that, you know, digital technology changes so quickly and the need for us to keep up is so relevant in today's day and age. I'm wondering what is the actual timeline for all departments to be absolutely on DIMS, integrated into it, given that I believe it's coming up four or five years since I had the privilege of sitting...
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I have a set of questions here that I'd like to ask the Minister of Infrastructure today.
My first question is in regards to the DIMS system that the GNWT uses to house all of its documents. And I'm wondering why is DIMS housed within the Department of Infrastructure and not within the Department of Finance where the Office of the Chief Information Officer sits? Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. And, yes, a good message to all Ministers, I am watching your social media very closely.
Mr. Speaker, I'm wondering how this framework will help reduce silos and how will it be ensured that departments are coordinating in their software and hardware purchases? Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, another key outcome from Yukon's housing audit was to improve interdepartmental collaboration. Yukon Housing Corporation and Yukon's Department of Health and Social Services have committed to signing a multiyear MOU, including coordinating their approach to information management. This is also something I have frequently spoken about to the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment and Minister of Justice who is also responsible for integrated service delivery. We know so much of our program delivery in this territory is siloed and desperately...
